Sectarian tensions rise after parades deal gets binned

The anti-Catholic Orange Order has been rewarded with a coat-trailing parade through an overwhelmingly nationalist area in Belfast after a long-standing peace deal got trashed by a government agency.

There had been fears of violence after the Parades Commission reversed a decision banning the loyalist parade from marching through the republican Ardoyne area, supposedly to mark ‘Orange Heritage Week’.

Protestors, including Sinn Féin’s John Finucane and Gerry Kelly, lined the Crumlin Road as the bands walked by in silence on Saturday morning.

It consisted of around 150 people including three lodges and a band. In tense scenes, residents held aloft banners bearing the slogans “No parade without agreement” and “Rights marched over” as the parade passed.

Mr Kelly, who is an Assembly member for North Belfast, praised local residents for remaining calm.

“The marching season is supposed to be over, this is an extra march. In 2016 there was an agreement between the Orange Order and the residents here and for eight years we had normality.

“People know the history of the last 20 or 30 years, we were in a much better way with community relations, the atmosphere had changed.

“Then the Orange Order walked away from the agreement. I do not understand how the Parades Commission decided this parade could go ahead and neither do the people of this area.

“People are worried and keep asking me if it will go back to the way it was, they want to know if that’s what they’re facing.”

He said the parade was provocative to the local community.

“They say this is their culture and they’ve decided to have a parade to celebrate their culture through what has been probably the worst interface during the bad times over the last 20 years.

“They march past a Catholic area, why would you think that’s a good thing to do? How does that celebrate your culture? Frankly I don’t understand it myself.”

The Parades Commission, which is the government-appointed adjudication panel for controversial marches, said its ruling to permit the parade represented a “fair balance between the needs of the community and the rights of the individual”.

Meanwhile, parades tensions are rising in Derry after reports that the loyalist Apprentice Boys organisation will hold yet another parade, to mark what it is calling “Initiation Day”.

Rioting erupted following a loyalist parade in the city last month.

Saoradh accused politicians of signing off on another loyalist march “in a closed-door agreement ... without any discussion”.

“This show of sectarianism will have many knock on effects for the local community in Derry and beyond, including a significant impact on the local economy as typically Saturday is the busiest trading day for our city centre stores,” it said.

“Some of these business will have to close their doors for a period on Saturday due to safety concerns and road closures, thus resulting in a loss of revenue/wages and footfall.

“During such sectarian parades we will yet again see British Crown Forces aggressively provoke the youth of our city in an attempt to apprehend them under trumped up or false charges.

“Saoradh call for an end to sectarian parades in Derry City centre, and demand that communities and businesses are able to operate without fear of intimidation from such loyalist death squads, and occupying forces.”

Urgent Appeal